Climbing the Cinder Cone

Inside the caldera are a number of cinder cones. These are hills or some might say small mountains on the cladera floor. These were created by small eruptions inside the caldera. The volcanoes in Hawaii have molten lava that pour out of the domes. In Alaska, the volcanoes tend to be more gaseous, and toss ash and rock out of the dome. This ash and rocks form mounds around the explosion and when all is said and done leave a hill, a hill perfect for climbing. The cinder cone we climbed was pretty good sized and from the top had a beautiful view of the caldera.

In our group there were five men and two women. The two of us females decided that we would just hike up a face of the cinder cone we thought looked easier. The men however decided that the backside of the cinder cone would be an easier climb so the hiked off to walk around the cone. We followed what looked like an animal trail up the cinder cone. This cone was old enough to have regrowth of vegetation on it. Up we hiked, not being use to the elevation, I had a little bit of trouble hiking up. But eventually the two of us made it to the top and where were the men? They had just started their climb.

Once on the top we admired the views in all directions. We could see all away across the caldera. We could see hot sulphur springs turning the tundra in that area orange, gold and yellow. Flowers of all colors were blooming on the top of cone, only the flowers were small, tiny plants. Still beautiful though. After taking pictures, we unpacked the lunch we brought and stretched out to wait for the men to arrive. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on top of the cone enjoying the view while the camera people took pictures. Did I mention that the main objective for the trip was to film Aniakchak for a movie. Basically, I was there to carry equipment though we monitored birds and animals along the journey.

From the top of the cinder cone we saw caribou running across the caldera. We saw snow buntings flitting to and from the small bushes. Redpolls and savannah sparrows were also seen. Then we saw a bald eagle fly over the lake. Not a bad start for monitoring and a great way to spend the day. After about three hours we hiked back down. This time the females followed the guys just to observe the hot springs.